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January 2017

January 06, 2017

We Are All Trolls Now

Look at your average internet comment box and you’re in for a treat. Take, for...

January 03, 2017

Scorsese’s Silence: A (No Spoilers) Review

Silence might be the most Catholic thing I have ever seen. To truly justify that,...

December 2016

December 27, 2016

Why 2017 Will (Probably) Be Worse

I’ve been pushing a line on 2016. Last week I wrote about the nasty blend...

December 21, 2016

Is There a Civil War in the Church?

Because, frankly, I haven’t seen one. At liturgy, I have yet to come across the...

December 20, 2016

Irony, Meme Magic, and the Truth about 2016

2016 has been cursed again and again as a year of unbelievable travail, a year...

October 2016

October 28, 2016

Donald Trump: Human, All Too Human

“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Who is Donald Trump: savior, pragmatic choice,...

September 2016

September 12, 2016

The Catfishing of the Catholic Community

The Internet is a notoriously deceitful place—people con others out of money, adopt any number...

August 2016

August 21, 2016

Burkini Bans are Anti-Catholic

Some French Riviera resorts (along with a few other places, including a ban on full-face...

August 19, 2016

How We Live

And where we live are quite often connected—two sides of a single cultural coin, aspects...

August 17, 2016

When Your Enemies Are Christians

Enemies broadly speaking anyway. This topic has stuck with me. Growing up American (read: secular),...

August 13, 2016

The Dirty “P” Word

Pastoral. From pastor, as in, a shepherd. In the Catholic circles in which I run...

August 06, 2016

I’m a Proud American, Even Though I Don’t Want to Be

Maybe one or two of you noticed (may God bless me with so many readers!)...

July 2016

July 16, 2016

Why Are You Yelling? Or the Failure of Catholic Blogging

Unsurprisingly, I am surrounded by Catholic bloggers: opponents, friends, frenemies, and every other color of...

July 15, 2016

Social Media: Where Charity Goes to Die

My intensifying dalliance with social-media criticism is no secret. I’ve blogged about it before, and,...

July 05, 2016

Christian Patriotism: An Oxymoron?

It [patriotism] is a pagan virtue, if these two words are compatible. The word pagan,...

June 2016

June 13, 2016

After a Tragedy: Get Off Social Media

About a week ago I chose to take a temporary break from social media, mostly...

June 12, 2016

Another Shooting: Brief Thoughts on Evil from Thomas Merton

Like most people I woke up today to horrific news: the murder of more...

May 2016

May 30, 2016

The Pope of Justice and the Year of Mercy

Pope Francis—pontifex maximus of cheap grace and haphazard forgiveness, the kind of bishop who would’ve...

May 24, 2016

Evangelizing in a Post-Christian World

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple area for the three o’clock...

May 23, 2016

50s Americana: A Contemporary Idol

In good Christian fashion, I’ve often tried to take my cue from Nietzsche and philosophize...

May 13, 2016

The Corpse of Culture Wars Catholicism

In a recent piece in Crux, Fordham professor Charles Camosy quotes Harvard Law professor Mark...

April 2016

April 24, 2016

Short Skirts at the Tabernacle

It was a few years ago, when I was just beginning to come to the...

April 22, 2016

On Christianity after Christendom

I am no alarmist, but there is undeniably something post-Christian about our time and place...

April 02, 2016

Mother Angelica, I Hardly Knew Ye

Mother Angelica’s repose has been a cause for personal reflection; she constituted a part of...

April 01, 2016

A Christian Defense of the “Useless Liberal Arts Degree”

As an undergrad I majored in English and minored in Medieval Studies at a relatively...

March 2016

March 26, 2016

Easter: A Weekly Sabbath

Easter is upon us! A once-a-year festival, it reminds us of, and celebrates, Christ’s victory...

March 14, 2016

Why I Oppose Physician-Assisted Suicide

“Ah, so much is said about human want and misery — I seek to understand...

March 06, 2016

The Witch: The Fruits of Desire

(The following contains spoilers. And while I hope to keep them mild, if you haven’t...

March 03, 2016

Forgetting the Poor, We Got Trump

Non-Trump voters do not get Trump: this goes for Democrats, Republicans, most analysts, my colleagues,...

February 2016

February 24, 2016

Karl Marx: Moralist

If you’d asked me a year ago, I’m not sure I could’ve envisioned myself writing...